NO DRAMA, NO DEBATE

There was no drama with the Oakland County Democratic Party, as chair Vaughn Derderian announced he was not going for another term. The slate presented, with Jody LaMacchia as the incoming chair for a new term was endorsed by Derderian, who said on Facebook, “Serving as OCDP Chair has been one of the highlights of my life… I am 100 percent endorsing the Unity Slate and Jody.” LaMacchia ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Republican state Rep. John Reilly  in 2020 for the very red 46th District seat, covering Addison Township, Brandon Township, Oxford and part of Oakland Township. While she wasn’t able to flip the seat, she did show her fundraising mettle, outperforming Reilly on the money front almost two-to-one, with a total for the fundraising cycle at over $92,000 to Reilly’s $50,000. The rest of the Oakland County Democratic slate is filled with a who’s who of potential party up-and-comers who didn’t quite make it in their races this year – including Kelly Dillaha of Birmingham who ran unsuccessfully for county commission, Nash Salami, who at 19 ran just a few votes shy of making it onto the Birmingham Public Schools board, who are members at large, and Ray Wert, the other half to state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills), a party vice chair.